


Catching Breath

by misura



Category: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-24
Updated: 2012-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-22 06:11:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/606669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A moment on the <i>Nautilus</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catching Breath

**Author's Note:**

  * For [saturnina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saturnina/gifts).



A lesser man, Tom thinks, might be feeling a bit intimidated in the presence of two near-immortals.

Still, Allan Quatermain is teaching him how to shoot (inasfar as he's got anything left to learn there) and Captain Nemo is teaching him how to operate an 'automobile' (a useless talent for now, but Tom feels it might not be too long before he'll see one in America; his superiors have already indicated an interest in the technology and Captain Nemo is, after all, a pirate first and a patriot second).

He's not sure if there is anything to learn from Jekyll. The man might have made one brilliant invention, but when it comes right down to it, Tom believes good shooting and superior intelligence will always win out over mindless thuggery and brute strength.

Skinner offers an ... interesting assessment of British (and by extension European) society from the perspective of one not born into either class or money. If Tom felt he could be trusted, Skinner might make for a valuable contact; as it is ... maybe. Skinner will always be out for himself, first - it's a lever, of sorts, but one that require finesse.

"Am I boring you, Mr Sawyer?"

_Cold_ , Tom thinks. He's never met a woman as cold as Mina Harker, let alone been attracted to one. He's not sure if it's a case of 'in spite of' or 'because of'. Neither, perhaps.

Mina is simply Mina.

"Never," he says. Under other circumstances, he might have bowed and kissed her hand - he's familiar with _some_ European mannerisms, by now, thanks to observing Dorian's interactions with her. In the bedroom, though, he suspects different rules apply.

"Charmingly said."

If Mina is cold, Dorian is ... inconstant. Shifting. Unreadable. _Dangerous._

"Youth," Mina says, dismissively.

"Well, it does have its charms." Dorian smiles. If Tom'd been wearing any clothes, he might have felt naked in the face of that smile; as it is, he merely feels ... appreciated. It's not the worst feeling in the world.

"And its failings."

"Lack of stamina does not seem to be one of them, however. In this case." Dorian is like a wild cat, Tom thinks. It might let you touch it and pet it and feed it, and purr at you all that time, but then one day, it will scratch you and leave you bleeding. "Shall we go again, then?"

"I suppose." _Still cold,_ even when her body isn't. Even when logic, common sense, clear and present evidence would dictate that she isn't.

"Mr Sawyer?"

"Sure."


End file.
